Tigers come up short in defending Cougars guard

The Pacific men's basketball team had no answers for Tyler Haws on Thursday night and thus no chance at BYU.

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By The Record

recordnet.com

By The Record

Posted Jan. 31, 2014 at 12:01 AM

By The Record
Posted Jan. 31, 2014 at 12:01 AM

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The Pacific men's basketball team had no answers for Tyler Haws on Thursday night and thus no chance at BYU.

Haws scored 38 points as the Cougars brushed aside the Tigers 88-78 before 14,262 at the Marriott Center. BYU (14-9, 6-4 West Coast Conference) essentially led wire-to-wire, while shooting 47.4 percent and having a 35-24 rebounding edge. The Tigers (11-9, 2-7) shot 53.2 percent but trailed by as many as 23 points in the second half.

"He made us pay every time," Verlin said. "He did a great job curling off screens and backdooring us. I threw everybody at him and we just couldn't guard him. He was the difference in the game."

Haws hit 12 of 20 from the field, including 4 of 5 from 3-point range, and had 24 of his 38 points in the first half. Despite the outburst, it wasn't even the junior's most impressive performance of the past week as he had 48 points in a 110-104 loss to Portland on Jan. 23 and is averaging 25.4 points per game in WCC play.

Eric Mika had 20 points and eight rebounds for the Cougars, who had a 22-6 edge on second-chance points.

Senior forward Tony Gill led Pacific with 15 points and Andrew Bock had 13, as offense wasn't the Tigers' problem.

"It came down to rebounding, something we've been good at it all year long," Gill said. "Myself included, we didn't do it at a high level. If we had eliminated their offensive boards, we could have won this game."

Verlin said he was pleased with Pacific's offensive play and said the rebounding was the second most important factor in the game.

"It was a chippy, physical game and we needed to hit and go get on the glass and we had a heck of a time doing it," Verlin said.